Up to the challenge
by giuly99jb
Summary: "Alice needs more academic stimulation to keep her focused, and I'm not sure I can provide that in my class." "Oh? Not up to the challenge, Miss Regina?" She bristled at the combined barb of the implication of her inability to do her job and the use of her first name. / HookedQueen Modern-AU


"What has she done this time?"

Regina looked up from the papers strewn about her desk as a tall, dark, and yes, quite handsome man strode into her classroom. "Can I help you?"

The man stopped before her desk, seeming to gather himself before he replied. "Please forgive my lack of manners. I am Killian Rogers, Alice's father."

Realization dawned on her at the name of her student. "Ah, yes, Alice. I sent her home with a note requesting to speak with you."

"Yes, that is why I'm here," Rogers said, sounding vaguely impatient, making Regina frown. "What did she manage to do that couldn't be handled with a few days of detention and instead required my presence here?"

Her frown deepened. She could see where the girl got her attitude problem from. "I didn't call you here to discuss Alice's behavioral problems, Mr. Rogers-"

"Call me Killian," he interrupted seemingly offhandedly, though Regina got the feeling the name preference was important.

"Killian," she tried again, fixing him with her best no-nonsense stare. "I wanted to speak with you about her academic performance."

This caught his attention. "Oh? Have her grades been slipping again?"

"No, actually, which is the issue."

Rogers frowned. "I don't follow."

She sighed, sifting through the papers on her desk until she found the ones she was looking for. "Alice appears to be bored in class, which causes her to be disruptive and act out. Based on her tests," she continued, handing Killian the papers, all marked with red circled 100s in the corner, "she is quite intelligent, even though she is taking in almost no information during class itself, she still manages perfect scores on all her assignments. I wonder if she wouldn't be better off in a more advanced class."

Killian looked at the papers thoughtfully for a moment before turning a smirk her way. "Well, of course she is intelligent, she is my daughter after all."

Regina had to fight the urge to roll her eyes, settling for sending him a dull look instead. "Yes, well, that's why I wanted to bring this to your attention Mr.- Killian," she corrected, narrowing her eyes at the way he smirked at her slip. "Alice needs more academic stimulation to keep her focused, and I'm not sure I can provide that in my class."

"Oh? Not up to the challenge, Miss Regina?"

She bristled at the combined barb of the implication of her inability to do her job and the use of her first name. "Oh, I am quite up to any challenge, Killian, I just do not have the time to devout to giving one child an entirely separate lesson than the rest of the class."

A few tense moments went by as they stared each other down, looking for weak points. It was oddly thrilling, in a way, she thought. Regina hardly ever came across a verbal sparring partner who was up to the task of matching her nowadays. It was almost too bad Alice would be leaving her class; and she most certainly would, she was sure of it.

"Very well," Killian finally conceded. "If a more advanced class would be best for Alice, then I will have to insist she be moved immediately."

Regina felt her eyebrow twitch as Killian made it all seem like his idea. Well, she was not one to be outdone so easily.

"I'm glad you've come around to my side," she said brightly, sickly sweet smile on her lips as she pulled an already filled out form from her desk. "Now, if you could just fill out the rest of this form and turn it into the front office, the process can be started right away."

Regina laughed internally at his narrowed eyes and pursed lips as he took the form, enjoying his silent sulking at her one-upping. His eyes seemed to sparkle with something resembling amusement though when he looked back up from the paper to meet her eyes again.

"My thanks for your looking out for my daughter," he finally said, bowing his head slightly in her direction.

"Of course," she said, surprised at the sudden change in attitude.

"Perhaps I could thank you over dinner sometime?"

That caught her off guard. "What? I'm not sure that would be appropriate," she began, looking away, suddenly feeling oddly nervous.

"Why not? You'll no longer be my daughter's teacher after this, isn't that correct?" he asked, sly smile curling up his lips.

"Well, yes, that is true, but-"

"Or perhaps you're just not up to the challenge of conversing with someone over the age of 10?"

Her eyes narrowed dangerously. "I believe I already told you I never back down from a challenge, Mr. Rogers."

Killian's smirk only dipped momentarily at the name before it was larger than ever. "Then I will call you with the details soon, Regina."

She watched through narrowed eyes as he left the room, throwing a smirk over his shoulder before he disappeared down the hall. A faint smile began to play on her lips as she thought about how much she was looking forward to this latest challenge.

* * *

 _Hi, first of all sorry if I did some mistakes. English isn't my first language, indeed I'm Italian. I love Once Upon A Time so much and even if I have my canon OTPs, I had always had a soft spot for HookedQueen that is my guilty ship. Well, once they intruced Wish!Hook I fell in love with the idea of NookedQueen or Wish!hookedqueen, and I believe that it would be more possible than the first crackship.  
Anyway, in this fic I decided to combine both the characteristic of the two Killians in one= Killian Rogers.  
I don't know if I write more about this universe, I would really love to, but depends on how many ppl will like this and if they are eager to read more.  
I dedicate this one-shot to Seana26, which is also a HQ shipper and since she writes beautiful ff about them, which I read them all, I thought to repay her generosity.  
Also this pair needs more recognition and ff._

 _So what do you thought about this os? Did you like it?_


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